One of the most well-reviewed MCU series of the past few years has been Wonder Man, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley. No one was sure what to expect from this series when they announced it. A series featuring a B-list Marvel Comics hero and the guy who pretended to be the Mandarin in Iron Man 3? Let’s just say, there was skepticism. But Wonder Man wound up being a delightful surprise, one with only a dash of superpowers sprinkled in. And for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, or simply don’t have Disney+, Marvel has uploaded the first episode on YouTube. You can now watch it in full below.
Wonder Man centers on a struggling actor named Simon Williams who is hiding a big secret. Unbeknownst to anyone but the Department of Damage Control, Williams has dangerous superpowers. Williams’ life becomes further complicated when he befriends former Mandarin, actor Trevor Slattery. And let’s just say, wackiness ensues. Obviously, Marvel putting Wonder Man on YouTube to watch for free is an effort to get more eyeballs on a well-reviewed series. Wonder Man always had an uphill battle. Unlike WandaVision, Loki, or Hawkeye, it’s not focusing on a character from a previous Avengers movie. But will this strategy work?
Hopefully, Wonder Man’s good reviews and positive audience scores mean we’ll get a second season at some point. It’s well known that Marvel Television is pivoting toward live-action series that can go for multiple seasons and don’t have massive budgets. Daredevil: Born Again was the first of these. Could Wonder Man be the second? No spoilers here, but the series ends with many possibilities for the characters of Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery. We’d love to see them followed up on at some point, and not end up like so many MCU post-credits scenes that simply go nowhere.
Wonder Man is currently streaming on Disney+.